US NAVY
ATLANTIC—U.S. freighter Thomas McKean, en route to
Cape Town, South Africa, is torpedoed, shelled and sunk by German submarine U-505
at 22°00'N, 60°00'W. Three Armed Guard sailors are killed in the attack. U-505
provides medical attention to the wounded in the lifeboats before departing
(see 4, 12 and 14 July).
US ARMY AIR FORCE
NORTH AFRICA—Rommel’s Afrika Korps takes Matruh.
EIGHTH AF—Capt Charles C Kegelman (CO 15th Bomb Squadron),
flying on mission with 12 RAF Bostons against Hazebrouck marshalling yard,
becomes first member of Eighth AF to drop bombs on enemy-occupied Europe. First
pilot fatality of Eighth AF in ETO is suffered when 1st Lt Alfred W Giacomini
of 31st Fighter Group crashes a Spitfire while landing at Atcham.
TENTH AF—Col Robert C Oliver assumes command of X Air
Service Command.
FIFTH AF—B‑17’s hit airfields at Rabaul and Lae during
28/29 Jun.
US ARMY
UNITED STATES—Admiral
King proposes to Joint Chiefs of Staff that Admiral Ghormley command offensive
to seize lower Solomons and that General MacArthur control moves against New
Guinea and New Britain. This is a compromise on the question of whether the
planned offensive in the Pacific shall be controlled by the Navy or by the
Army.
NEW GUINEA—Company E of U.S. 46th Engineers arrives at
Milne Bay to begin work on base.
CHINA—Chiang Kai-shek, meeting with General Stilwell, makes
3 demands “essential for the maintenance of the China Theater of War”: 3 U.S. divisions,
500-plane air force in China, monthly transportation by air of 5,000 tons of
supplies into China.
EGYPT—Axis forces speed eastward to within 15 miles of El
‘Alamein despite action of 13 Corps, British Eighth Army.
US MARINE CORPS
—
No comments:
Post a Comment